Emily Simpson Says This Daily Habit Got Her Into Her Best Shape at 50

Emily Simpson is opening up about how she got into the best shape of her life. The Real Housewives of Orange County star, who has chronicled her weight-loss journey on the show, told Us Weekly that this season she really ramped things up, and it started with an unexpected wake-up call.

Simpson said the shift happened after she wrapped filming last season and then shot Wife Swap, when she saw photos of herself standing next to a pig on set. “Girl, you’re about to turn 50. You need to get your act together,” she recalled thinking. So she walked into the gym and stayed there. “I’ve been in the gym seven days a week for like two hours a day, nonstop,” she told the outlet. “So I turned 50 in the best shape I’ve ever been in, so I was very proud of that.”

Simpson is quick to say the gym time was not the whole story. “I did take a GLP-1, so I always want to be honest about that,” she said. “But I don’t think that you can transform the way I did with just that. I also spent hours and hours and hours lifting weights in the gym.” It’s a distinction more stars have started making publicly: that the medication can help, but the muscle still has to be built the old-fashioned way.

She’s also not big on the word motivation. “I know a lot of people say, ‘How do you get motivated?’ But for me it wasn’t motivation. It was just, it’s more about dedication,” she said. Her advice for anyone starting their own transformation: “Just do it.” She added, “It’s a journey. You have to just, you know, think 12 months out, not tomorrow.”